Innovations to Go Anywhere

i/o Relies on Caterpillar Power Solutions

The scope of the company’s growth is amazing: i/o Data Centers’ Phoenix facility is ranked among the 10 largest data centers in the world by Data Center Knowledge. i/o PHOENIX occupies 538,000 square feet and is located at the company’s headquarters. What’s more, the company is expanding at the site. The facility will include another 180,000 square feet of usable, raised-floor data center space within the existing square footage.

How is such growth possible, especially in a tough economy? “A keen awareness of the future landscape of data center solutions, its customers and their business needs,” said Andreas Zoll, Director of Data Center Engineering and Product Development for i/o. And a record of performance and innovation that attracts new customers helps, too.

“We design and build data centers based on what our customers’ needs are. We don’t build speculatively,” he said. “We are in a mission-critical industry and we have developed a proven track record of success.”

That is one of the key reasons i/o selected Caterpillar and Empire Cat to provide power system solutions for its i/o PHOENIX and i/o SCOTTSDALE data centers.

The i/o PHOENIX site is currently served by a dedicated 40 MW substation with additional capacity to be added soon. i/o PHOENIX has (13) 2 MW (N+1) UPS systems, and 16 Caterpillar 3516 2.25 MW back-up generators currently installed. When the second phase is added, those totals will double to 32 Caterpillar generators.

The gensets feed into paralleling Cat switchgear with PowerLynx technology. “The selection of Cat products boiled down to reliability and availability,” Zoll said.

“In our work, we can never afford to lose power to our facility. If something goes wrong with an engine generator, if we need a spare part on Christmas Day or the day after Thanksgiving, we want to be teamed up with a company that has a large global footprint, that has a very good stock of parts in its service center to respond to what is needed right away. This is the major reason that we are so closely partnered with Caterpillar and Empire,” he said. “We benefit from that level of service, where we need it and when we need it.”

Innovation by Design

i/o is a leader in data center design as well, including innovative features at i/o PHOENIX such as a Thermal Energy Storage system containing hundreds of frozen, softball-sized spheres floating in tanks filled with a chilled glycol solution. The balls are frozen during the night when electricity from the grid is less expensive. During the day the ice-ball-cooled glycol solution is pumped through a heat exchanger to cool the data center, which reduces the company’s need to run chillers.

The company also uses low-power LED lighting to reduce heat levels and overall power consumption.

In addition to LED lighting on the data center floor, i/o PHOENIX’s energy-saving features include ultrasonic humidifiers for climate control, highly efficient computer room air handlers with EC plug fans and perimeter flooring made from recycled car tires.

Under development for many years, i/o has brought its innovative ways to a new technology platform, called i/o ANYWHERE™. Unlike the traditional model where every data center is uniquely designed, custom built and very expensive, i/o ANYWHERE™ is a modular data center service that uses standardized components, replicated designs and supply chain logistics to respond to today’s scale and pace for data center demand. What’s more, i/o ANYWHERE™ enables i/o to deploy data center capacity anywhere a customer requires it at a fraction of the cost and delivery time.

i/o ANYWHERE™ comes with 100% of required mission-critical infrastructure, including power generation. Cat generators, depending on configuration, serve as either back-up power or primary power.
The modular solution is scalable to tens of megawatts of power and thousands of cabinets. i/o  ANYWHERE™ can be configured, delivered and operational within weeks.

According to the company, i/o ANYWHERE™ gives customers the ability to deploy operational data center capacity wherever and whenever they need it, in or out of a building, on or off the utility grid.  Customers can now acquire data center capacity the same way they do processing, storage and networking—when they need it.

Caterpillar Financial Services has been a big supporter of i/o and its development plans. Caterpillar Financial supplied a $70 million secured loan to i/o in October 2010 to help fund expansion and development of i/o ANYWHERE™. Wells Fargo Bank backed a $130 million loan for i/o at the same time.

The company looks to expand the i/o ANYWHERE™ system in several markets, including Denver, Dallas, Chicago and the states of Washington and New Jersey.

Proven Product, Proven Service

With all the expansion and growth, i/o Data Centers relies on Empire Cat service to keep its gensets run ready. “A maintenance agreement with Empire has worked well,” Zoll said.

 “When you look at Empire Cat here in the Southwest, it’s really an ideal company with which to partner,” Zoll said. “Empire has an enormous footprint here in Phoenix; the staff members who are installing and servicing the equipment are very knowledgeable. From Caterpillar to Empire Power Systems representatives, they provide the complete package of quality products and quality service.”

Doug Gooch, Empire’s account manager for i/o Data Centers, said his team takes its responsibility very seriously.

“We look at i/o as if it were a prime power application—it can’t have power go down, not for a moment,” he said. “Power integrity is fundamental to i/o and its customers and we do everything possible to keep i/o ready at all times.”

Fortunately, i/o Data Centers has never experienced a power outage. But Zoll takes comfort that i/o’s infrastructure is supported by Caterpillar’s expertise.

“At i/o, if we know that someone has a proven track record for providing high-level, quality service, we like to work with them over and over,” he said. “We have that situation with Caterpillar and Empire. We completely trust their ability to provide parts, service and maintenance that ensure reliability of our power system.”